Dispensing control device for icemaker

ABSTRACT

A dispensing control device for an icemaker includes a dispensing structure and a control structure assembled with the dispensing structure. The dispensing structure includes at least a first dispensing portion and a second dispensing portion for dispensing at least two kinds of materials, wherein the first and the second dispensing portion and the dispensing structure form a dispensing area in which a first position and a second position are defined respectively. The control structure includes a first trigger unit and a second trigger unit, for respectively triggering the corresponding first and second dispensing portion to dispense materials respectively thereof, wherein the first and the second trigger units respectively include a first and a second actuating element mounted at the first position and the second position in the dispensing area, and a first and a second trigger components which are respectively triggered by the first and the second actuating elements to control the material dispensing of the first and second dispensing portion. Therefore, the user can obtain different desired materials by operating at different positions in the dispensing area.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to a dispensing control device for anicemaker, and more particularly to a dispensing control device which cancontrol the icemaker to dispense liquids or solids.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The dispensing control device which can control the dispensing ofliquids or solids (e.g., ice cubes) provides great convenience for theindustrial or home users. This type of dispensing control device isalways applied to the loading machine in the beverage store, thebeverage dispenser in the fast food restaurant, the water/ice dispensermounted on the refrigerator, the coffee maker and the water dispenseretc.

Some prior arts, like U.S. Pat. No. 7,266,951, U.S. Pat. No. 7,104,085,and U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,777, disclosed a dispensing device for therefrigerator or the beverage machine, and the feature they have incommon is that the dispensing device has an ice dispensing outlet andone or more liquid dispensing outlet aside the ice dispensing outlet fordispensing water or beverage, so that when accessing the ice cubes, theuser should put the cup under the ice dispensing outlet and press acorresponding plate or button for enabling the dispensing of the icecubes. Similarly, when accessing the water or beverage, the user shouldput the cup under the liquid dispensing outlet and press a correspondingplate or button for dispensing the water or beverage.

Although the above patents integrate the ice and the liquid dispensingoutlets into one machine for facilitating the accesses to the ice andthe beverage on one machine, some disadvantages are also developed:

1. Because the ice and the liquid dispensing outlets are arranged sideby side, a larger space will be occupied, so that if the dispenser isdesigned to integrate with the refrigerator, the inner space of therefrigerator might be reduced thereby. And, if it keeps the inner spaceof the refrigerator unreduced, the entire volume of the refrigeratormust be increased.

2. If the dispenser is applied to the beverage machine for dispensingmultiple kinds of beverages, the machine might become too big or toowide to be arranged, or the remainder space after arrangement mightbecome too small.

3. Because there are multiple outlets, if the cup is not placed at acorrect position for receiving, it is easy to cause a spill of ice cubesor water. And, if the user wants to access the ice cubes and the waterat the same time, then a proper movement of the cup must be executedbetween the outlets. Therefore, the operation is not convenient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to solve the problems describedabove by integrating multiple dispensing outlets and thus reducing thevolume of the dispensing machine, so as to facilitate the operation ofthe user.

For achieving the object described above, the present invention providesa dispensing control device for an icemaker including a dispensingstructure and a control structure assembled with the dispensingstructure. The dispensing structure includes at least a first dispensingportion and a second dispensing portion for dispensing at least twokinds of materials, and a dispensing area with a first position and asecond position defined therein respectively corresponding to the firstand the second dispensing portion. The control structure includes afirst trigger unit and a second trigger unit, for respectivelytriggering the corresponding first and second dispensing portion todispense materials respectively. The first trigger unit includes a firstactuating element mounted at the first position in the dispensing area,and a first trigger component which is triggered by the first actuatingelement to control the material dispensing of the first dispensingportion. The second trigger unit comprises a second actuating elementmounted at the second position in the dispensing area, and a secondtrigger component which is triggered by the second actuating element tocontrol the material dispensing of the second dispensing portion.Therefore, the user can obtain different desired materials from thefirst or the second dispensing portion by operating at differentpositions in the dispensing area.

Accordingly, as compared with the prior arts, the present invention isadvantageous of reducing the machine volume by saving the moving spacebetween two side by side outlets, which not only the operation time canbe reduced, but also the operation can be speed up.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the appearance of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is another schematic view showing the appearance of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a decomposition drawing of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is another decomposition drawing of the present invention;

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are schematic views showing a first operation stateof the present invention;

FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B are schematic views showing a second operation stateof the present invention;

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are schematic views showing a third operation stateof the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the presentinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, which show a dispensing controldevice for an icemaker according to the present invention. Thedispensing control device includes a dispensing structure 10. Thedispensing structure includes at least a first dispensing portion 11 anda second dispensing portion 12, e.g., material outlets, for dispensingat least two kinds of materials, and the dispensing structure 10 is alsoformed to have a dispensing area 13 in which a first position and asecond position are respectively defined. Then, as shown FIG. 3, thedispensing control device also includes a control structure, whichincludes a first trigger unit 30 and a second trigger unit 40, forrespectively triggering the corresponding first and second dispensingportion 11, 12 to dispense the materials respectively thereof. The firsttrigger unit 30 includes a first actuating element 31 mounted at thefirst position in the dispensing area 13, and a first trigger component34 which can be triggered by the first actuating element 31 to controlthe material dispensing of the first dispensing portion 11. The secondtrigger unit 40 includes a second actuating element 41 mounted at thesecond position in the dispensing area 13, and a second triggercomponent 44 which can be triggered by the second actuating element 41to control the material dispensing of the second dispensing portion 12.Thereby, the main framework of the present invention can be achieved.

In the present invention, in addition to the first and the secondpositions, the dispensing area 13 is also defined to have a thirdposition. As shown in FIG. 4, the control structure further includes athird trigger unit 50. The third trigger unit 50, similar to the firstand the second trigger units 30, 40, also includes a third actuatingelement 51 mounted at the third position in the dispensing area 13, anda third trigger component 54 which can be triggered by the thirdactuating element 51 to control the material dispensing of the seconddispensing portion 12. Moreover, the first, the second, and the thirdactuating elements 31, 41, 51 are all pivotally mounted on thedispensing structure 10, and respectively have a force-receiving portion32, 42, 52 which can pivot on the dispensing structure 10 afterreceiving an external force applied thereon. And, when the first, thesecond, and the third actuating elements 31, 41, 51 are pivoting, theywill respectively reject to an acting portion 33, 43, 53 of the first,the second and the third trigger component 34, 44, 54. In the presentinvention, the first, the second and the third trigger component 34, 44,54 are respectively a tact switch which can trigger the first dispensingportion 11 or the second dispensing portion 12 to output materials afterbeing pressed by the acting portion 33, 43, 53.

The first dispending portion 11 and the second dispensing portion 12 areemployed to dispense different materials, which can be selected from agroup consisting of water, crushed ices, and ice cubes. However, for thepurpose of clarity and simplicity, the first dispensing portion 11 isdefined to dispense water and the dispensing portion 12 is defined todispense crushed ices or ice cubes in the following descriptions. Then,please refer to FIG. 5A to FIG. 5B, FIG. 6A to FIG. 6B, and FIG. 7A toFIG. 7B, the respective heights of the first, the second and the thirdpositions defined in the dispensing area 13 are different and therespective distances from the first, the second and the third positionsto the user are also different, so that the first, the second and thethird actuating elements 31, 41, 51 which are located at those positionsalso have different heights and distance to the user.

When the user wants to load the water, as shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B,e.g., via a container (not shown), the container can be moved to thefirst position in the dispensing area 13 to press the force-receivingportion 32 of the first actuating element 31. At this time, the firstactuating element 31 will be forced to pivot, so that the acting portion33 of the first actuating element 31 will in turn press the firsttrigger component 34, so as to trigger the first dispensing portion 11to dispense water.

When the user wants to load the crushed ices, as shown in FIG. 6A toFIG. 6B, the container can be moved to the second position in thedispensing area 13 to press the force-receiving portion 42 of the secondactuating element 41. Therefore, the second actuating element 41 will beforced to pivot, and the acting portion 43 of the second actuatingelement 41 will in turn press the second trigger component 44, so as totrigger the second dispensing portion 12 to dispense crushed ices.Identically, when the user wants to load the ice cubes, as shown in FIG.7A to FIG. 7B, the container can be moved to the third position in thedispensing area 13 to press the force-receiving portion 52 of the thirdactuating element 51. Therefore, the third actuating element 51 will beforced to pivot, and the acting portion 53 of the third actuatingelement 51 will in turn press the third trigger component 54, so as totrigger the second dispensing portion 12 to dispense ice cubes.

Here, in addition to be the tact switches, the first, the second and thethird trigger components 34, 44, 54 also can function as sensors. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 8, the first and the second trigger components34, 44 are implemented as sensors and are used for sensing the movementsof the acting portions 33, 43 of the first and the second actuatingelements 31, 41, so that it can judge that if there is any force appliedto the force-receiving portions 31, 42 of the first and the actuatingelements 31, 41, and thus can control the first dispensing portion 11 orthe second dispensing portion 12 to output materials. And, the thirdtrigger element 54 is remained as a tact switch. Therefore, there is nolimitation to the implementations of the first, the second and the thirdtrigger elements 34, 44, 54, and they can be all tact switches orsensors, or a combination thereof.

In the aforesaid, according to the present invention, the first and thesecond dispensing portions 11, 12 on the dispensing structure 10 areintegrated to form one dispensing area 13. Particularly, the first, thesecond, and the third actuating elements 31, 41, 51 of the first, thesecond and the third trigger units 30, 40, 50, which can control thedispensing of the first and the second dispensing portions 11, 12, arerespectively mounted at different positions in the dispensing area 13.Therefore, the user can respectively and independently operate withdifferent trigger units 30, 40, 50 at different positions forindependently triggering and controlling the first dispensing portion 11or the second dispensing portion 12 to dispense desired materialswithout other materials' dispensing at the same time.

Consequently, as compared with the prior arts, the present invention isadvantageous of reducing the machine volume by saving the moving spacebetween two side by side outlets, which not only can reduce theoperation time, also can speed up the operation.

It is to be understood, however, that even though numerouscharacteristics and advantages of the present invention have been setforth in the foregoing description, together with details of thestructure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrativeonly, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape,size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention tothe full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms inwhich the appended claims are expressed.

1. A dispensing control device for an icemaker, comprising: a dispensingstructure comprising a first dispensing portion and a second dispensingportion for dispensing at least two kinds of materials, wherein thefirst and the second dispensing portion and the dispensing structureform a dispensing area in which a first position and a second positionare defined respectively; and a control structure, comprising at least afirst trigger unit and a second trigger unit, for respectivelytriggering the corresponding first and second dispensing portion todispense materials respectively thereof, wherein the first trigger unitcomprises a first actuating element mounted at the first position in thedispensing area, and a first trigger component which is triggered by thefirst actuating element to control the material dispensing of the firstdispensing portion, and the second trigger unit comprises a secondactuating element mounted at the second position in the dispensing area,and a second trigger component which is triggered by the secondactuating element to control the material dispensing of the seconddispensing portion.
 2. The dispensing control device as claimed in claim1, wherein the heights of the first position and the second position aredifferent.
 3. The dispensing control device as claimed in claim 1,wherein the respective distances from the first position and the secondposition to the user are different.
 4. The dispensing control device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the first and the second actuating elementsare pivotally mounted on the dispensing structure, and respectivelycomprise a force-receiving portion, for receiving an external forceapplied thereon by which the first and the second actuating elements arepivoted on the dispensing structure, and an acting portion, forrespectively controlling the first and the second trigger components toactivate the first and the second dispensing portions to dispensematerials when the first and the second actuating elements are pivoting.5. The dispensing control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein thefirst and the second trigger components are selected from a groupconsisting of tact switches and sensors.
 6. The dispensing controldevice as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first dispending portion andthe second dispensing portion are employed to dispense differentmaterials.
 7. The dispensing control device as claimed in claim 1,wherein the materials are selected from a group consisting of water,crushed ices, and ice cubes.
 8. A dispensing control device for anicemaker, comprising: a dispensing structure comprising a firstdispensing portion and a second dispensing portion for dispensing atleast two kinds of materials, wherein the first and the seconddispensing portion and the dispensing structure form a dispensing areain which a first position, a second position and a third position aredefined respectively; and a control structure, comprising at least afirst trigger unit, a second trigger unit and a third trigger unit, forrespectively triggering the corresponding first and second dispensingportion to dispense materials respectively thereof, wherein the firsttrigger unit comprises a first actuating element mounted at the firstposition in the dispensing area, and a first trigger component which istriggered by the first actuating element to control the materialdispensing of the first dispensing portion; the second trigger unitcomprises a second actuating element mounted at the second position inthe dispensing area, and a second trigger component which is triggeredby the second actuating element to control the material dispensing ofthe second dispensing portion; and the third trigger unit comprises athird actuating element mounted at the third position in the dispensingarea, and a third trigger component which is triggered by the thirdactuating element to control the material dispensing of the seconddispensing portion.
 9. The dispensing control device as claimed in claim8, wherein the heights of the first position, the second position andthe third position are different.
 10. The dispensing control device asclaimed in claim 8, wherein the respective distances from the firstposition, the second position and the third position to the user aredifferent.
 11. The dispensing control device as claimed in claim 8,wherein the first, the second, and the third actuating elements arepivotally mounted on the dispensing structure, and respectively comprisea force-receiving portion, for receiving an external force appliedthereon by which the first, the second, and the third actuating elementsare pivoted on the dispensing structure, and an acting portion, forrespectively controlling the first, the second, and the third triggercomponents to activate the first and the second dispensing portions todispense materials when the first, the second, and the third actuatingelements are pivoting.
 12. The dispensing control device as claimed inclaim 8, wherein the first, the second and the third trigger componentsare selected from a group consisting of tact switches and sensors. 13.The dispensing control device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the firstdispending portion and the second dispensing portion are employed todispense different materials.
 14. The dispensing control device asclaimed in claim 8, wherein the materials are selected from a groupconsisting of water, crushed ices, and ice cubes.